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Category Archives: Horror

Back in 2001 or 2002, I honestly can’t remember which, we were in the thick of our 7th Sea (1st edition) campaign. It was October and I proposed a Halloween themed “one-shot” for the group. Unfortunately, this “one-shot” took all of about 4 or 5 sessions to actually complete, something I’ve become a bit notorious for since then.

This year, over on the Facebook Explorer’s of Théah group, I proposed everyone submit a scenario for Halloween as a community project. While this wasn’t the first of my old adventures that came to mind — that one involved a murderous redcap stalking the students of a Castillain university (“Remember the tooth!”) — I settled on this one because of the 2015 film, the Witch.

After having seen that movie, I think I would run this one completely differently than I did before. In fact, I think this would have made a great adventure for Witch Hunter: the Invisible World, All for One: Regime Diabolique, or the Savage World of Solomon Kane with only a bit of tweaking.

So if you and your group are getting together to roll some dice for Halloween fun, I offer this short adventure scenario for your consideration: Whisper on a Black Wind. See if you can make it the horrific one night affair it was intended to be.

Addendum

A quick shout out and thank you to Dyson Logos for his amazing work and making some of it available to use. If anyone wants a copy of the unaltered version of the map used in the adventure, you can find it here.

It’s been awhile since we talked about the new edition of Kult. Well the developers threw us a curve ball over the holidays and released a Quick Start game for everyone, not just the Kickstarter backers. It’s our first real look at the new engine that will power this brilliant, dark setting.

Not all responses have been positive. Most of the negative comes from folks who already reviled the move to a Powered by the Apocalypse engine, so keep that in perspective. Personally, I have my own hangups about that system, but I’ll keep an open mind until I’ve had a chance to look over what they’ve done. And as a first look, I think its safe to assume the full body of rules are still under development/translation. The final version will not satisfy everyone, but for anyone who has enjoyed the setting since its release in the 1990’s, it’s enough to have Kult taking up oxygen again. It’s easy enough to adapt to any of dozens of RPG flavors, and the presentation of the new edition looks top notch.

I didn’t back the kickstarter, mostly because it launched around the same time as 7th Sea and I just don’t see my group signing up to play Kult on a regular basis. But I’m still looking forward to the final product and it’s high on my 2017 list. And I’m eager to look over the QSR once the madness of the holidays settles down.

One more thing, over on RPG.net, Adramelech has posted a form fillable character sheet based on the one in the QSR. I’ve reposted the link here for convenience.

So yeah, you didn’t think I was going to leave everyone with a broken game for Halloween did you? With the help of a good friend, Matt, and two surprise enthusiasts, Bruce and Jim, I have a new release version cleaned up, expanded, and ready to go just in time for some serious Halloween gaming this weekend!

So here you go. Halloween Dark version 2.5 is here and more terrifying than ever. And what could possibly be more terrifying than every one of your fellow players callously pushing you towards your inevitable death scene? No, this is not the creeping doom of Graham Walmsley’s Cthulhu Dark, though it certainly owe his its inspiration and DNA. No, this one is for people lining up to be a hot lunch over a cold beer and a bowl of chips, pretzels, or candy corn. And don’t forget to download the Joyland horror story scenario while you are at it. Together they’ll give you all you need for a fierce, hilarious night of spook-tacular gaming with friends. And that is what it’s all about, right?

The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event.

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES! Clown hysteria has gripped the United States. Creepy clowns seem to be showing up in every state, every city. Did we just leapfrog over the zombie apocalypse? Has Trump v Clinton driven people to the extreme? I can’t tell you that. Funny thing, the same thing happened back in the 50’s, in a little town in Missouri called Carthage…

Joyland is a short, one-night scenario for Halloween Dark. Set in the early 1950s, a rash of disappearances coincided with numerous mysterious clown sightings. Despite local law enforcement denials, many felt the two were connected. The characters have come together to investigate an abandoned carnival park that seems to be at the center of the clown sightings. But what they find is far more horrific than they can possibly imagine — if they survive Joyland, that is.

The scenario includes a complete location key of the fairgrounds, a map, as well as bonus trick or treat cards to tie into the killer clown theme. Like the game itself, it’s a witches brew. See something that doesn’t make sense? That’s because you need to make up your own effect. Why are they characters involved in the adventure? All of the Pre-Gens have a reason, but you can just as easily come up with something on the fly. How do you kill the big bad in the final encounter? Let them figure something out. You should be asking yourself how your players survived all those clowns!

My own modest spin on Graham Walmsley’s brilliant Cthulhu Dark is now available in the downloads section. It’s called Halloween Dark, and if you are looking for serious horror roleplaying, look elsewhere.

Halloween Dark was born in 2014 out of the need for a very simple rpg to run Halloween-themed one-shot games for my Library Teen Roleplaying program. Cthulhu Dark fit the bill, then I grafted on the idea of cards from a brainchild my co-GM was fostering. It made for a fast, frantic, and hilarious 2:30 hour game session.

Flash forward two years and I’ve reworked some of the more problematic parts and finalized the cards (in the original game, the cards were spontaneously scribbled down on index cards). It’s a witches brew of a game. It may not make sense all of the time, but it is fun.

So if you’ve got your crew coming this October and want to throw something a bit…different at them, Halloween Dark is your game. Check it out. Let me know what I need to fix in time for next Halloween.

I began prep for the Horn & Crown story arc fresh off of Mark Chadbourn’s third Swords of Albion novel, the Devil’s Looking Glass. As four of the seven PCs in the witch hunter game are from England, I had always planned on having part of the campaign take place in the British Isles. And to me, that meant involving the fey. The question became how to approach faeries in the world of Witch Hunter.

I’ve loved the imagery and spectacle of Guillermo del Toro’s take on the fey in Hellboy 2 and Pan’s Labyrinth. But most RPGs treat the fey as beautiful wish fulfillment. So game-able details on spooky, creepy, otherworldly fey that adhere to folklore (and the Monster Manual 12) are hard to come by.

Recently, two OSR blogs have touched on the subject: Elfmaids and Octopi and They Might be Gazebos have posted articles on making elves alien again. Of course, they are working at something of a disadvantage, from my perspective anyway. They are trying to maintain the feys’ playability as a race. Therefore, most of the recommendations they put forward were cosmetic at best. With Witch Hunter, I don’t have any such restrictions. There are no elves or dwarves. And the fey are free to be as alien and hostile to humanity as the GM pleases.

So herein are a collection of various articles to give the fey and those who serve the Summer and Winter courts a real shot in the arm. Apply liberally. Most Witch Hunter players are probably coming from other RPGs that present the fey in more favorable terms. You’ll need to shock them out of that misconception quickly. They fey of the Invisible World are not your friends. They have an agenda, one most of us would probably find horrifying or just downright queer. Even their best habits should be unsettling.

The Unseelie of Swords of Albion

Mark Chadbourn does a good job of injecting the fey of his novels with unsettling creepiness. Granted, they are the villains, monsters in vaguely human guise. Some of his stuff works, some of it doesn’t. But it’s a great place to cull from for our purposes. Granted, the Seelie should hedge towards more alien beauty, which when done right can be just as unsettling as the grotesqueness of the Unseelie fey.

The voice was like the wind across snow. In the corner of the hall, a woman stood, motionless, shoulders slightly hunched like an animal on the brink of attacking. Her hair hung lank around a bloodless face, her eyes red-rimmed, unblinking. There was something of the grave about her. With excruciating slowness, she stalked towards him.

— Mark Chadbourn, The Silver Skull

xxxx

“Do you hear music?” Mayhew cocked his head. “Like pipes playing, caught on the breeze?” As he breathed deeply of the night air, he realized the foul odour of the city had been replaced by sweet, seductive scents that took him back to his childhood. A tear stung his eye. “That aroma,” he noted, “like cornfields beneath the summer moon.” He inhaled. “Honey, from the hive my grandfather kept.”

— Mark Chadbourn, The Silver Skull

xxxx

In the sweet places inhabited by the Unseelie Court, there is always music in the air, and beauty, and joy, and the haunting fragrance of honeysuckle.

— Mark Chadbourn, The Scar-Crow Men

xxxx

Their clothes, while of the finest material, appeared to be on the brink of rot, stained here and there with silvery mildew, the style harking back to a distant age. A scent of loam accompanied them. Their cheekbones were high, their hair long, their eyes pale, but there was an odd quality to their features that meant they rarely registered on the mind; once they had passed from view it was almost impossible to recall the details of their appearance.

— Mark Chadbourn, The Silver Skull

xxxx

As the doors to the State Rooms swung open, the light from the candles grew dimmer, although the flames burned as strong. Shadows fell at strange angles, and a suffocating atmosphere descended. Here and there across the room, blood began to drip from noses.

— Mark Chadbourn, The Silver Skull

xxxx

Fey Interests

Polemic, 10′ did an interesting article on the topic of weird fey variants. Rather than mess with keeping dozens of variants, it was easy enough to distill them down to their base interests. When you want to flesh out a faerie (villain, lieutenant, or hero), simply choose one from the following list or roll a d10 and assign the result.

Stealing children
These fey use their powers of persuasion to part the starving poor, or otherwise misfortunate, with their offspring. Perhaps they steal an infant from its crib, replacing it with a grotesque (a changeling). Either way, the fey views this as a proper exchange.

Magical trinkets and relics
These fey might collect magical devices from throughout the Invisible World (including the mortal realm), stealing them when necessary or trading and bartering for them. Or perhaps they make mischief by circulating powerful cursed items (a monkey’s paw) among mortals.

Perform “miraculous” deeds for the dispossessed and easily dupedThese fey answer the desperate cries of those in need, but at a hefty the price, whether it be a soul or firstborn son (daughter, or child). My like a daemon, the fey will arrive to collect its prize at the appointed time without fail.

The unfinished task, cut short by the bent nail or the wrong screwdriver.These fey become invisible to make mischief by bedeviling craftsmen with broken tools, changing measurements, and all other manners of misdeeds. Naturally, they always fix what they have broken after the craftsman has gone to sleep. Those whom these fey take a liking too, they sometimes aid in their craft during these times. These fey are particularly sensitive to offers of gifts!

Following after the wayward with wolfish intent.This fey is driven to inflict pain and mischief upon foolish women, men, or children who wander alone after dark. The hunt, the gnawing fear of its victim, is intoxicating for the fey. Some have learned to brew this into a tonic that is in high demand throughout both faerie courts.

Visit villages on cold moonless nights, tapping thin fingers on windows as they create intricate traceries in the frost.
This fey is an artist and graces those who please it with wondrous images born of frost traced on a window. Of course, the subtitles and nuances of this art is sometimes too great for human perception. Sometimes this serves as a warning of bad things to come.

Yearn merely to caress the placid faces of the wayward dead. Living beings are too coarse and earthly for them.
This fey will lead the wayward, lost, or foolish to an early death for its own romantic (or carnal) pleasures. While usually a trait of the Unseelie fey, there are those of the Summer Court who share this trait, though not in the same malicious sense.

Shambling about in the twilight seeking the unwary with groping fingers and muttering dark lullabies.Locks of maiden’s hair; this is a desired commodity, even a currency, for whole communities of fey. The more pure (or more tarnished) the maid, the more valuable the hair. This could be the Focus of the fey (Focus Bound Price).

Isolation
These fey dwell apart from their brethren, whether out of fear, grief, or animosity. Their loneliness (their tendency to drink immoderately) makes them unpredictable. They might invite a wayward soul in out of the rain, masquerading as a simple hermit, offer him food and drink (never take food or drink offered from a faerie – it gives them power over you) and then torture the guest for their amusement.

Fingers tipped with gossamer strands float down, touching skin through fabric and causing tiny itches that are all too easily scratched. Wake too soon and you might feel it crouching on your chest, trailing its subtle threads across your face and ears and throat. Hide under the covers and it will crawl in with you.
Dreams and nightmares; this fey will steal into the home of a sleeping victim, crouch upon his chest and lay its long, delicate fingers across his sleeping face. The victim is visited by intense and realistic dreams or nightmares. The fey might drink from the intoxicating emotions that these dreams cause, or perhaps it is simply curious and wishes to understand humanity better. These fey are sometimes confused with the more horrid (though not necessarily more thoroughly evil) incubus.

Weaknesses and Wards

These are culled from folklore. They are useful as superstitions surrounding the fey. Consider changing them up in strange, unexpected ways for the fey of your game. Also remember, each fey is unique so no two will be exactly the same. Still, I would settle on a few constants (like vulnerability to Cold Iron), if only to make those variations more dramatic.

Iron:

On entering a Fairy dwelling, a piece of steel stuck in the door, takes from the Fairies the power of closing it till the intruder comes out again.

A knife stuck in a deer carried home at night keeps them from laying their weight on the animal.

A knife or nail in one’s pocket prevents his being `lifted’ at night. Nails in the front bench of the bed keep elves from women `in the straw’, and their babes. As additional safe-guards, the smoothing iron should be put below the bed, and the reaping-hook in the window.

A nail in the carcass of a bull that fell over a rock was believed to preserve its flesh from them.

Bells:

church bells

the bells worn by morris dancers

the bells round the necks of sheeps and oxen

Water:

one can leap to safety across running water, particularly a southward-flowing stream.

descending to the shoreline below the high-tide mark. The Fairies were unable to go below that tide mark.

Fire:

Fire thrown into water in which the feet have been washed takes away the power of the water to admit the Fairies into the house at night

burning peat put in sowens to hasten their fermenting (greasadh gortachadh) kept the substance in them till ready to boil.

fire was carried round lying-in women, and round about children before they were christened, to keep mother and infant from the power of evil spirits.

When the Fairies were seen coming in at the door burning embers thrown towards them drove them away.

Oatmeal:

When sprinkled on one’s clothes or carried in the pocket no Fairy will venture near (it was usual with people going on journeys after nightfall to adopt the precaution of taking some with them).

Oatmeal, taken out of the house after dark, was sprinkled with salt, and unless this was done, the Fairies might through its instrumentality take the substance out of the farmer’s whole grain.

Oakmen are created when a felled oak stump sends up shoots. One should never take food offered by them since it is poisonous.

Plants:

Four-leafed clover: brake fairy glamour, as well as the fairy ointment, which was indeed said by Hunt to be made of four-leafed clovers.

St John’s Wort, the herb of Midsummer: potent against spells and the power of fairies, evil spirits and the Devil.

Red verbena was almost equally potent, partly because of its pure and brilliant colour.

Daisies, particularly the little field daisies, were protective plants, and a child wearing daisy chains was supposed to be safe from fairy kidnapping.

Red-berried trees were also protective, above them all rowan.

A staff made of rowan wood, or a rowan cross or a bunch of ripe berries were all sure protections

it was customary in the Highlands to plant a rowan-tree outside every house.

Where rowans were scarce, ash- An ashen gad was supposed to be protective of cattle.

Power & Price Descriptions and Variants

With the above guidelines, here are some Power and Price variations you can apply to fey creatures in your game.

Debilitative Aura (Veneficum/Sorcerous): Describe the suffocating aura that accompanies the fey, as if a heavy weight pressed on your chest; the instinctive urge to avert one’s eyes from their presence; the heady scent of honeysuckle or the grave; the sensation of blood dripping from your nose.

Mortal Mask (Corpus/Body): The fey know their appearance is unsettling to mortals, and will quickly shift to a less alien appearance. A brief glimpse of their true form might be allowed to cow or intimidate the mortal(s) in their presence. This isn’t on the official list of powers, but is simple enough to add.

Allergen (Corpus/Body): includes church bells, iron, and salt.

Atmospheric Disturbance (Veneficum/Sorcerous): The appearance of any fey is preceded by the faint sound of pipes, and a sweet, seductive aura that is as peaceful as it is unsettling.

Restriction (Cursus/Movement): Hanging an iron instrument (bell, cross, fence, horse shoe, scissors, etc) above a arch or doorway will bar the passage of a fey being. Mystical plants (see Avoidance) and salt may be used as a substitute.

As of last night we are two episodes into the third season of Penny Dreadful. There a number of shows I watch to mine for ideas and inspiration: Supernatural, Salem, Sleepy Hollow…and Penny Dreadful has quickly become the one that is the most fun and consistently worthwhile. If you aren’t watching it, you should be, or at least giving it a try.*

I’m not going to waste my time babbling on with what the show is about. Either you’ve heard of it by now, or a quick Google search will do it more justice than I can here.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical. I tried jumping in about three episodes before the season 1 finale and found the whole thing dreadfully ponderous. An hour spent dredging through Vanessa Ives’ past is really just that – ponderous. An I would have given up on it. I waited until the second season and tried again. That’s how I learned the first of two important things to consider with Penny Dreadful. It isn’t what the characters have done that makes them interesting, it’s how they are reacting to the here and now that is.

The second thing to keep in mind is that PD is a slow burn. It slowly builds, layer upon layer, until the whole thing is poised to come crushing down on you. It doesn’t really go for the cliffhanger ending, at least not very often. Sure, it has it’s big reveals but that’s not where it excels. It get’s its hooks into you slowly, while you are looking the other way. Then, masterfully, jerks the line taunt. Yeah, that sounds suitably purple. It is modeled after Victorian Melodrama, after all.

But the show really excels at building an atmosphere of tension, of both subtle details and truly grotesque moments. It doesn’t really go for schlock, and embraces the genre instead of mocking it. John Logan and his writers are proving phenomenal craftsmen. And that’s why you, the Game Master, should be watching it. Study the nuances, make notes about how the build scenes, and then unleash this into your game. For Witch Hunter, which threads the needle between horror and swashbuckling, heroic drama, there is plenty of material here to lift straight from the show. Hecate Pool and her daughters scream to be wrapped into the Dark Coven! If you are a fan of Savage Worlds and the Rippers setting, every scene is is dripping with material for your game.

Compare it to the rest of the field:

Supernatural (CW): a show past its prime that’s now doing a devil of a job suppressing any real sense of character development while the current rogues gallery continues the same dance they’ve been performing for the past 4 seasons.Saving Grace: The actors are still having fun and it shows.

Sleepy Hollow (FOX): a show that, for some reason, doesn’t want to embrace what makes it unique: the secret history of the American Revolution.Saving Grace: it’s cool to see a mainstream genre show with a cast that isn’t lily white.

Salem (WGN): a show so concerned with being edgy and adult that they’ve managed to bludgeon and kill any lingering sense of sympathy the audience has for the main characters. You can’t even really call it a show about shades of gray – only grades of black. (Sorry, but they lost me with the long, lingering scene of the girl bleeding out last season – I’m not going back to that well again).Saving Grace: The odd, weird depiction of witchcraft.

Maybe its just that I’m getting old and crotchety. I don’t have endless time to keep up with a dozen TV shows, especially the one’s my wife isn’t interested in. I want the most bang for my one-hour viewing time. I want to be motivated by the story telling. Right now, Penny Dreadful is doing that for me. Check it out.

Penny Dreadful Season 3 Premier Episode on YouTube

*The Brace of Pistols Helpful Guide to Watching a New Serial:Give any new show four episodes. If, by the end of the fourth episode you aren’t hooked by the characters and storyline, you can walk away knowing the show clearly wasn’t for you. It helps if you start at the beginning (or even the beginning of a season), but it isn’t necessary.